Is it Time to Ban Cell Phones

Now attempt to answer this question; what are the odds that you will be killed by a person using a cell phone will driving?

Well according to the National Safety Council, the National Center for Health Statistics and others sources, “assault by firearm” kills about 13,000 people in the US each year. These groups state this translates to roughly a 1-in-315 lifetime chance of death from gun violence. That sounds awfully high, I would question how they translate that number.

Let us accept the premise that it is 1 in 315. How many of those 315 are actually killed by people committing crimes themselves. Basically drug dealers and gang bangers shooting and killing each other. That alone would probably increase the chance of you being killed by a gun to 1 in a 1000’s chance.

Now let us focus on deaths by people using their cell or smartphones while driving. According to Injury Facts 2017®, a statistical report compiled by the National Safety Council, 103 people die in crashes and 11,800 are injured every day. Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for people age 1 to 24, and the second-leading cause of death for adults age 25 to 84.

According to statistics compiled by the Department of Transportation going back to 2015, there were 3,477 people who died and another 391,000 who were injured in motor vehicle crashes caused by drivers who were distracted because they were texting or using cell phones.

The data gets worse for younger drivers, those younger than 21. These drivers are not only avid text message users, they make up 27% of the drivers in fatal crashes that were attributed to distracted driving.

So now let us talk about banning something to save people’s lives. I believe we should ban AS phones. These Assault-Smart (AS) phones are killing innocent Americans at a very, very much higher rate than AR rifles.

So is it fair to ask the question; should we ban the carrying of AS phones in an automobile while driving? They should have to put their phones in the trunk while actually driving their automobile. That would include everyone who is in the automobile because any of them could actually distract the driver. Or as one of my listeners of my show called in to say, there should be software that would turn a phone off if they automobile is driving at a certain speed.

Oh one last question; should we ban all people under the age of 21 from owning an AS phone? If the data shows the number or innocent young people dying each day from the use of an AS phone in an automobile, why not.